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US 10,472,075 B2Granted
Pneumatic parachute deployment system
AssigneeKitty Hawk Corporation
InventorDamon Vander Lind
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A pneumatic parachute deployment system is disclosed. In various embodiments, a pneumatic parachute deployment system as disclosed herein includes a bladder configured to control a parachute's expansion in at least one dimension, and an inflation mechanism configured to inflate the bladder. The bladder is inflated when the parachute is deployed, and in various embodiments may be used to speed deployment of the parachute and/or restrict the parachute to opening at least initially only to a limited extent.
Claims17
A parachute deployment system, comprising:
- a bladder configured to:
- control a parachute's expansion in at least one dimension, wherein the bladder includes a plurality of inflatable sections at least two of which are unequal in length, wherein the bladder is initially attached to the parachute and constrains a radius of an opening of the parachute from exceeding a predetermined length, wherein the controlling of the parachute's expansion comprises to:
- determine whether an aircraft utilizing the system is traveling at high speeds;
- in response to a determination that the aircraft utilizing the system is traveling at high speeds:
- continue to constrain the radius of the opening of the parachute;
- while the radius is constrained, determine whether the aircraft utilizing the system is traveling at low speeds;
- and
- in response to a determination that the aircraft utilizing the system is traveling at low speeds, release the parachute from the bladder to allow the radius of the opening of the parachute to exceed the predetermined length;
- and
- an inflation mechanism configured to inflate the bladder.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.